Battery Problems!!!

[Gav3.5V6]

Hi

Sorry if you read this on a other forum but i REALLY need help here!!

I have a 3.5 V6 Gen2 Facelift, Battery seemed fine since it was driven everyday LOL. but as soon as the car stood for like 4 days the battery was flat.

I charged the battery but a couple of weeks later the battery would not charge at all, the dates showed it was due on the battery.

So i bought a new battery (sealed type), all seemed fine till the car stood for more then 4 days Dead......

I had the car tested and it showed a spike on the current. then found and old tracking system removed all that and spike is gone, and now has average current load when alarm is armed.

Also kept taking the car back to where i bought the battery quering maybe a faulty battery, just to be told they cant test cos the battery is flat and it must be charged 1st, well charged up tested fine then found the battery looking like a balloon so checked alternator, that was fine.

They then aventually gave me a new battery, only to fine that it still goes flat within 4 days of standing.

Ive just about had it now with this dam problem... can someone please advise as to a possible problem. the car will be going in AGAIN to the auto elec's for a front to back check. thing is current usage shows low and charge is somewhere around 13 something volts(cant remember).

Can it be the battery (what is the correct battery for the Gen2 facelift)
maybe a deapcycle will be better BUT that is not fixing the problem.
and 2ndly how long should the car be able to stand before the battery goes flat, NONE of my previous cars ever went flat in less then 2-3 weeks.

Frustrated!!!

[4ePikanini]

switch car off
let it stand for 20 minutes or so
open the bonnet
make sure all accessories are off including any lights because of the bonnett being open
connect ammeter between positive terminal of battery and positive terminal cable
disconnect the positive terminal from the battery ensuring the ammeter stays connected

have it connected for another 5 minutes or so

your current draw should now be less than 50 milliamps

if it is more, disconnect one fuse at a time until you can see the culprit system of the current draw.

from there it is about chasing wires to see what is connected to that circuit.


On the other hand it may just be a bad ground connection. either
-terminal to battery
-battery cable to ground
-engine chassis to ground

[Gav3.5V6]

last i checked my current usage it was less then 20 milliamps i think.

have just installed new heavy duty battery terminals and ground to chassis and motor seem good.
thats what i dont understand.
and the fact that the battery has been replace(with the same type though)
dont want to mention brand till problem is resolved

What battery size(code) should it have in, maybe it was wrong when i got it and was replaced with what was in!

Gav

[4ePikanini]

battery size won't make a difference.

get a voltmeter and measure the voltage across the terminals

when running (from idle to redline) should be between 13.85volts - 14.6volts - the colder the temp the higher the voltage usually - tet the voltage while switching everything on (a/c, brights, radio etc) and then check also with everything off. It should stay pretty constant.

when the car is stationary with engine switched off check that voltage stabilizes to over 11.8volts. just after shut down it will show over 12 volts. When you check in the morning and it's less than 11.4 volts the battery is not "lekker"

[4ePajero]

Once you have determined that the battery is fully charged 9as per 4ePikanini's post), disconnect one terminal and see whether the battery still runs down overnight.
If it does, the battery is FUBAR.
If it does not, there is a 'thief' in the house.
To find the culprit is a mission, and I leave that type of stuff to sparkies.

You could of course fit an isolator (as a temporary measure).
It is inconvenient with things like clocks etc, but at least the engine will start.

[Gav3.5V6]

Thanks so far for the help.

AFAIK all the voltages have been tested while on idle and was all correct.
I will however test self again before it goes in to the sparkies.

I definitly want to check where the battery stabalizers then again in the morning, with and without the terminal.
BUT i suppose i need to give it a good charge to make sure the battery is properly charged.
BTW I have a serious charger and dont want to overcharge, what is safe regarding volts and ampage, I suppose volts between what the car gives,13.8 and 14.6v.

also when i say the battery is flat in 3 days, when i connect it to the charger it shows only like 3-4V. That if you ask me is way past Flat. at 11v a battery is already flat.

If its the battery then I'm really not happy with that brand anymore cos its the 2nd one already.

Will let you know!

[4ePikanini]

charging voltage allows the battery to draw the correct current to charge itself.

if the battery drops to 4volts over 4 days (even with parasitic draw) there is some serious faults there.

My guess is a bad battery batch or that battery has been standing on the shelf for years.

swap the battery with your second car if possible (a battery you know is good) and see if the problem persists.

[Gav3.5V6]

Ok Guys Problem solved!!!

As mentioned the the amps drawn on the battery was only 20 milliamps at most, not enough to drain a battery.
But I read that some computer boxes are still active for a few minutes after the ignition is turned off made me think,
Everytime i tested the current i would disconnect 1 terminal to put the meter in series, so i got clamps to connect the the meter before breaking contact with the pole, thus keeping power to all the circuts while putting the meter in series.

Shocked to find a half amp drain break contact and reconnect would drop reading to less than 20 milliamps.
turn ignition on/off and back to half amp drain.

Searched for odd wiring and found that if i plugged out the centre consols harness the amps would drop...
followed the wires and found that some APE removed the sleeving on the two wires going to the the two lighter jacks and joined them together, fixed that and now my problem is solved ( so I realized that 1 jack is always powered and 1 is ign power and same APE did not like it that way) so I assume that power was reverse fed back through the system keeping stuff powered.

LOL also then noticed that suddenly my radio was not keeping its settings anymore, (the battery wire the radio was connected to was actually a Ign power)

Thanks for all the help, and sorry its taken so long to come back but i havent actually been able to leave the car standing for 4 days to test for sure whether i had fixed the problem

Gav